Riverland to host motorcycle ride

Published 9:02 am Friday, July 15, 2011

The Riverland Community College Foundation wants you to get your hog out and ride.

The 11th annual Riverland Bikers for Student Success ride is set to start at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, July 23. There’s a new route for motorcyclists and the ride should last all day.

“Getting into the motorcycle community is pretty fun,” said Steve Bowron, dean of institutional advancement. “It’s a different clientele that finds a different way to connect with education and support education.”

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The motorcycle community has been involved with the ride for more than 10 years, going back to when Riverland instructors paired up with the school’s administration and several community members to put on the first ride.

“It was a real big hit that first year, and we’ve kept it going ever since,” Bowron said.

The Riverland Foundation has kept getting donations too, as the ride earned more than $40,000 in scholarship money over the past 10 years. The Foundation hopes this year becomes the biggest ride yet.

“We wanted to try this year to do a better job … in a time when students probably need those scholarship funds more than ever,” Bowron said.

With a new route comes new donation possibilities. While normally the all-day ride will break for lunch at a local restaurant, local companies have donated pork sandwiches, chips, buns, water, pop and coffee for riders to pay a fee for.

The ride will end as it always does at Torge’s Live in Austin, where a raffle and silent auction will take place to raise even more money.

The ride starts with registration beginning at 9:30 a.m. at Riverland’s Austin East building. Everyone may attend and the registration cost is $25.